We’re back with the second installment of the Edtech in Practice series, featuring interviews with educators from around the country.

This month, we introduce three educators who are leading the charge to teach computer science to students all the way from kindergarten through high school. It's increasingly imperative for students to be conversant in the language of code, and many K-12 schools are experimenting with computer science courses for the first time.

We asked these teachers to share some of their experiences and favorite resources to inspire anyone who may be teaching (or thinking of teaching) computer science.

Thanks for reading!

Meet the teachers

Faith Plunkett, Jon Armfield, and Tom Simpson

Faith Plunkett, Monte Sano Elementary SchoolAt Monte Sano Elementary in Huntsville, Alabama, Faith Plunkett is tasked with teaching every student about technology. Ms. Plunkett focuses on introducing students to the core logic ideas behind computer science, preparing them for programming classes at the middle school and high school levels.

Her students use drag and drop programs like Tynker to build games and apps, rather than writing code letter by letter. The youngest students, who may not yet be readers, use the Kodable iPad game to build algorithms out of arrows and symbols instead of words!

Jon Armfield, Cardinal Gibbons High SchoolJon Armfield teaches engineering, design, and 3D modeling at Cardinal Gibbons High School in Raleigh, North Carolina. Last year, Mr. Armfield launched an introductory programming course using curriculum from CodeHS.

He explained, "I decided to bring coding into the classroom because I know how important it is. But I’m not a programmer, so I lean on CodeHS. It has pacing guides, lesson plans, everything a teacher needs. Students watch video lessons, complete exercises, and go at their own pace."

Tom Simpson, Heathwood Hall Episcopal SchoolTom Simpson is a veteran technology teacher at Heathwood Hall Episcopal School in Columbia, South Carolina. Every freshman takes a computer science class with Mr. Simpson, using CodeHS.

Mr. Simpson says, "I took some programming classes in college, but I didn't major in computer science. But I know how to work with computers, I know how to work with students, and now that I’ve tried it, I feel comfortable teaching programming."

Words of wisdomWe asked our featured teachers to share some suggestions for anyone looking to introduce a new computer science curriculum. Their advice:

1. Don't be afraid if you're not an expert.Tell your students that you’re learning alongside them, and lean on resources that provide a structured curriculum, like CodeHS or AmplifyMOOC. For challenging questions, look to your advanced students or your professional network. If you’re using CodeHS, you can also turn to the network of CodeHS tutors for coaching.

Mr. Armfield described the experience of learning alongside his students: “I have students who blew me away months ago, but I don’t necessarily need to be ahead of them. The students have to learn problem solving. It’d be easier for me to just give them the answer, but I don’t know the answer! So we look at online resources and figure out the solutions together.”

Mr. Simpson said, “My students are used to hearing me say, ‘Wow, I didn’t know you could do it that way!’ My kids definitely outsmart me sometimes, but that’s okay. That’s good!”

2. Bring coding to life with physical interactives and student-relevant applications.Ms. Plunkett’s students are highly motivated by opportunities to create their own video games and animations. They also love using their knowledge of algorithms to control programmable toys like Bee Bots and Sphero.

Mr. Armfield’s programming students get excited about writing Minecraft plugins and building programs on Raspberry Pi devices. Mr. Simpson’s classes take breaks from coding lessons to design and create with the classroom’s 3D printer or to program their Finch robots. (Last year they programmed the robots to do a dance routine!)

Programming Bee Bots

3. Find the right level for your studentsKindergarteners in Ms. Plunkett’s classroom play games like Kodable and CargoBot that introduce the logic behind algorithms. Older primary students use drag-and-drop blocks of code to build programs in Tynker or Code.org.

At the high school level, students are ready to learn proper programming protocols. Mr. Armfield explains, “I want high school kids to be able to look at code and know what’s going on. They can learn the logical structure from drag-and-drop programming, but syntax, vocabulary, and commenting are really important parts of coding. CodeHS teaches them to use the right syntax and the right protocol.”

Mr. Simpson emphasized that it’s important for first-time programmers to feel successful early on. In CodeHS, lessons start out simple. Students use only four commands to program the actions of a dog named Karel, and everyone succeeds. The lessons quickly ramp up in difficulty, but Mr. Simpson notes, “CodeHS is personalized and broken down into small chunks, so students get to work at their own pace, they get positive feedback, and they get the feeling that they’re always progressing.”

4. Make it fun!Mr. Simpson says, “If you’re doing CodeHS, you have to get Karel the dog! Ninth graders love the dog theme. Every day we start class with a funny dog video from YouTube. Then we try to relate it to coding concepts, like, ‘While there are still balloons, the dog will pop the balloons.’”

CodeHS mascot Karel the Dog

5. Look to local industries to impress upon students, parents, and school leaders the importance of computer science.In Huntsville, Ms. Plunkett’s district was motivated to introduce technology to all of its students due to demand from local companies looking for more candidates with technical backgrounds to fill their job openings.

At Cardinal Gibbons High, Mr. Armfield brings in guest speakers from nearby Cisco Systems to talk with students about job opportunities available to programmers right out of college. His students also look at job postings from their favorite game companies to see the kinds of skills required to work there.

Mr. Simpson’s class meets with engineers from Zverse, a local 3D printing startup, to learn about their technology. This year Zverse also set up an internship for Heathwood Hall students.

Looking aheadWhat’s next for our featured teachers?

Mr. Armfield is looking to explore integrations between the technology and art departments at Cardinal Gibbons High School, to attract more students to programming.

Mr. Simpson is planning to form a robotics club at Heathwood Hall next year and will offer an AP computer science course using CodeHS.

Ms. Plunkett was recently named a PBS Learning Media Digital Innovator and will be working closely with PBS tech experts, as well as other educational partners, to expand Monte Sano’s technology curriculum for next year.

We know that edtech is most transformative when it's in the hands of great teachers and administrators. I'm continually impressed by the innovative educators we meet who embrace new tech for supporting their students' learning and for managing their schools and classrooms.

Over the next few months, we’ll be publishing a new series on this blog featuring interviews with educators from around the country and highlighting their inspiring examples of edtech in practice. In this first article of the series, we focus on two teachers using technology to flip the learning in their classrooms. (What is flipped learning?) These teachers show us how tech tools can create space for interactive learning and enable deeper relationships between educators and students.

Let’s meet the teachers!

Introducing Mr. BarberBobby Barber teaches math at Millville High School, a Title I school in New Jersey. Mr. Barber’s calculus students have always come to class with lots of thoughtful questions about their homework assignments, but when Mr. Barber was busy introducing new math concepts in class every day, there just wasn’t enough time left to assess every student’s understanding and address all of their questions. That’s why Mr. Barber began flipping his class four years ago, giving the students video lectures to watch at home and focusing on math practice in class. He started off by assigning videos from Khan Academy and Brightstorm, but soon decided to record his own lectures using a simple FlipCam setup in his classroom, eventually building up a library of custom math lessons hosted on EDpuzzle.

Today, Mr. Barber’s students watch his EDpuzzle lectures at home and answer questions that are embedded directly in the videos. When students walk into class, Mr. Barber already knows what questions they have and which concepts need to be reinforced. EDpuzzle allows him to track which students have watched the videos and see which sections of the video they re-watched, so he knows what they found most confusing. At the beginning of class, he spends only a few minutes at the front of the room clarifying points of general misunderstanding, and then his students break into groups to work through math problems at whiteboards around the room. While students help each other practice new math concepts, Mr. Barber has time to walk around the room to offer guidance, answer questions one on one, and encourage students to push forward. Students who need extra help get the help and support they need, and advanced students are challenged to help their peers. As a result, all of his students are more confident and more successful in their learning.

Introducing Mr. MacfarlaneMatt Macfarlane teaches history at Templeton Middle School, a small, high-performing central California school. A veteran with over 20 years’ teaching experience, Mr. Macfarlane was driven to flip the learning in his classroom because he could see the world changing around his students. Gone are the days when the best memorizers are the most successful students. Today, his kids need to be prepared with a new set of 21st century skills, including problem solving, time management, and collaboration. As he describes it, “I don’t want to spend my precious minutes with students on lecturing. I want to impact my students, which comes when I can interact more with them, when I’m working alongside them and engaging at a deeper level.”

To that end, Mr. Macfarlane has transformed his class lectures into media-rich Educreations videos that students can watch at home, thus freeing up all of his class time for interactive learning. In class, students engage in debate, challenge each other’s ideas, and collaborate on projects. Mr. Macfarlane’s classroom is equipped with Chromebooks and a set of big-screen TVs. Students use the Chromebooks to research ideas, gather evidence to support their arguments, and present their work on screens around the room.

﻿“I don’t want to spend my precious minutes with students on lecturing. I want to impact my students."﻿

OutcomesMr. Barber sums up the greatest benefit of his flipped classroom: “Since flipping my class, I get to talk to every single kid every single day.” This has led to deeper relationships with his students, who aren’t afraid to ask questions or make mistakes in class. Students also appreciate the control over their own learning. Busy students can watch when and where they want to, and they can review challenging concepts as many times as needed. On top of all this, Mr. Barber’s students have seen a dramatic improvement in their test scores.

Since flipping his classroom, Mr. Macfarlane is able to make the most of class time. He finds that his students are better prepared to succeed in class, more excited about learning, and more confident in themselves. With his video presentations, students who need to hear something again can rewind and re-watch, or watch again with a parent, rather than being tethered to the classroom’s pace. All students come to class equipped with the background knowledge they need to successfully participate in class. Students and parents also appreciate that students now spend less time on homework, since they are using class time for guided learning and critical inquiry.

“Since flipping my class, I get to talk to every single kidevery single day.”

So you’re thinking of flipping your classroom…What advice would Mr. Barber and Mr. Macfarlane offer to anyone thinking about taking the plunge?

Try it! Start small, flip one lesson or one chapter. Talk to your students about it, and see what happens!

Keep your videos short: 10-15 minutes for high school students, 5-10 for middle school, and under 5 for younger students.

Keep in mind that students may not know how to learn from a video. Watch the first few videos together in class. Show them how to take notes and how to check for their own understanding.

Give students a deliverable for the next day, even if it’s as simple as a comprehension question.

Have a back-up plan for students with limited access to online videos. You can provide copies of the videos on DVD or USB drive, or allow time for students to watch at school.

Reach out to your networks! Both of our featured teachers credit their professional networks with guiding their flipped classroom journeys. Talk to people in your school who have flipped their classrooms, or check out the #flipclass community on Twitter for great advice and support.

Looking aheadMr. Macfarlane and Mr. Barber are actively helping other educators in their districts to get started with flipping. What else is ahead for these flipped learning aficionados?Mr. Barber is experimenting with self-paced learning in his classes. Students have access to all of the video lessons for the entire year, so now his strong students are pushing ahead to challenge themselves with more advanced content, while struggling students focus on mastering each concept before moving forward.Mr. Macfarlane is experimenting with new tech to support collaboration among his students. He’s also making plans to connect them with other classrooms around the country for geography scavenger hunts!

We are excited to announce a new partnership with Education Entrepreneurs, the UP Global community that houses Startup Weekend Education, Startup Digest Education, and more. Going forward, Imagine K12 will guarantee an interview to the winning team from every Startup Weekend Education event!

Startup Weekend Education (SWEDU) is a weekend-long event hosted in cities all over the globe throughout the year. Teams are formed at the beginning of the weekend and then spend 54 hours researching and prototyping solutions to problems in education. The weekends culminate in a round of presentations by each of the teams, judged by a panel of edtech experts.

Whenever SWEDU teams decide to focus their time and energy on growing their ideas into successful businesses, we encourage them to apply to Imagine K12. Starting a company is always hard, and the education market presents unique challenges. At Imagine K12, we strive to improve the chances of success for each of our edtech companies with a combination of strategic advice and mentorship, targeted seminars, highly engaged networks of entrepreneurs and educators, and $100,000 in funding.

We receive hundreds of applications for the Imagine K12 program each year, and we typically interview about one quarter of the companies that apply. In our selection process, we look for strong teams with great ideas that have the potential to reach massive scale, attract venture capital, and ultimately have a positive impact on education outcomes. Startup Weekend Education looks for these same characteristics in its competition, and so we look forward to meeting the winning teams and learning more about their companies.

The Imagine K12 interview process is brief. We meet with companies for about 15 minutes, and then within a few days notify the founders as to whether or not they’ve been accepted. In the interview, we are looking to get to know the team and dig deeper into the product and the vision for the company. We always look for evidence of commitment and passion from each founder on the team, as well as a deep understanding of the problem that the company solves. We recommend that Startup Weekend Education teams spend a few months working together before applying to Imagine K12, so they can form solid working relationships within the team and devote time to studying their market and building an MVP.

While the Imagine K12 interview guarantee only extends to first-place teams who want to build their SWEDU ideas into full-fledged companies, we encourage all SWEDU entrepreneurs to apply to Imagine K12. We consider applications on a rolling basis from February through August. When a company is accepted, we immediately fund them and begin advising them. In the fall, all selected companies move to Silicon Valley to work together in person in an intense three-month program.

Check out the Education Entrepreneurs website to find an upcoming Startup Weekend Education event in your area, and hopefully we will see you at Imagine K12 soon!

At Imagine K12, our big-picture goal is to see technology enrich and transform education as it has the business and consumer experiences. Technology is not the silver bullet for education, but we know that it can have a meaningful, positive impact on the education system and learners.

We work with startups, and while it’s incredibly rewarding to spend our time with smart, motivated entrepreneurs, sometimes we can feel very far removed from the teachers and students who inspire us to do this work. Every now and then I like to take a look at what educators are saying about our portfolio companies, as a reminder of the very real impact they have.

Here are a few quotes from teachers talking about the transformative power of the edtech products they use:ClassDojo is a behavior management tool that emphasizes positive behavior and provides a behavior record for each student.

Not only has ClassDojo improved my classroom behavior, but it has helped improve their math and reading scores as well! I don’t know of any other behavior management site or system that is this versatile and effective. The days of needing to call home about my students’ behavior have passed…but, I sure have made a lot of ‘Compliment Calls.'Angela West, 4th grade teacher (source)

Remind101 allows teachers to communicate with their students and parents via text message in a simple, safe environment.

My students are still talking about how awesome it is to receive messages from their teacher. They come to my class prepared and on time more regularly than I have ever experienced. Parents have told me that they enjoy feeling more “in the know” of what their student is doing in my class.Catherine Flippen, high school teacher (source)

Socrative is a student response system (like clickers) that works on any web-enabled device.

Socrative saves me time, gives students immediate feedback, helps me to make better, more informed decisions and is helping me easily gather the data that the job demands. Shawn McCusker, high school teacher (source)

Goalbook makes it possible for every student to have a personal learning plan that connects all of the key players in their education: teachers, parents, and other specialists.

During the day, when my student is facing a challenging moment, I’m now able to share in Goalbook a play-by-play of the steps and actions I’ve taken with the student... The parents love this. They’ve told me, ‘When we hear which strategies have been successful, what’s been working for you, this information helps us be more successful with our child at home. We appreciate the communication we get from you.’District Post-Secondary / Transition Coordinator (source)

InstaGrok is a research tool that displays any topic in a visual, interactive concept map.

Teachers of every subject area will see students of almost every skill level benefit from what instaGrok has to offer... instaGrok isn’t designed to feed users simple answers; rather, it fosters customizable levels of inquiry that will help your students learn how to be critical thinkers and creative problem solvers, instead of mindless button pushers. And that’s transformative learning!Shawn Jacob, high school teacher (source)

This list covers just a handful of Imagine K12’s startups, which are part of a larger ecosystem of great edtech companies working hard to support students and teachers.

Are you thinking about starting an edtech startup? How will you make life better for educators and learners?